7.2.13

This
building, « hôtel particulier », Hôtel de Beauvais, dates from around
1655-60, built in a French baroque style – architect Antoine Lepautre. The front side has lost a few decorations, but basically the building looks very much the same as on the 17th century drawing. It's a remarkable architectural achievement. When you look at it and enter the main gate, you have
the impression of something completely symmetric, whereas with a bird’s eye
view you will see how the architect has “cheated” with a space which is far
from symmetric. A bit further down you can see the original plan (of the first floor) and what
it looks like today on Google Earth. One exception from what normally was the
case with these townhouses is that the “noble part” is not behind a central
court, but directly along the street.

It was
built for a merchant, Pierre de Beauvais, and perhaps more especially for his
wife, Catherine Bellier – who was a much appreciated handmaiden to Queen Anne d’Autriche
(Anne of Austria), wife, widow, of Louis XIII, regent and mother of Louis XIV. Catherine Bellier acquired her reputation – and fortune – for having relieved the young Louis XIV
of his virginity - with the mother’s encouragments and approval. He was then 14 … and she was 38.
She was furthermore known to be quite ugly and had the nickname of “Cateau-la-Borgnesse”,
the “One-eyed Caton”. There are no known paintings or engravings of her, but a
mascaron decorating the building is supposed to have her as model and… no more
comments . She was described as intelligent, plotting… and despite her looks had a multitude of influent lovers. Obviously Pierre de Beauvais and Catherine
Bellier were not too concerned about their “image”, looking at these mascarons
of her and of him – happy and sad. We can also see heads of goats. (Goat = “bellier”
in French.)

The address
is Rue François-Miron, which originally was called – and was a prolongation of
- Rue Saint-Antoine and it used to be the main street leading from the east into
the centre of Paris – before rue de Rivoli was created during the 19th
century. I already wrote about this street in a previous post, about all the
ancient buildings around it… including the 13th century cellar under the
premises of the association “Paris Historique” (of which I’m a member), including
the beautiful Saint-Gervais – Saint-Protais Church in which the Couperin family
members were the organists… The street leads to the back side of the Paris Town
Hall where those days an arch in the building brought you to the front side of the Town Hall, those days’ Place de
Grève…

Along this
street, the newly wedded Louis XIV and Maria Theresa (of Spain), in 1660, made
their triumphal entry into Paris in an enormous procession, followed by
possibly a million people. On the balcony of the then newly built Hôtel de
Beauvais, Queen Anne, Catherine Bellier, the Cardinal Mazarin, the Marshal
Turenne… and others watched it all. Here
is the balcony they were standing on.

The
building later changed owners several times and was finally in a very bad
state, having been used for workshops, flats, when it (thanks to “Paris
Historique” and others) was saved from destruction, as from 1995 restored and since 2004 occupied by the Paris administrative
court of appeal (Cour Administrative d’Appel de Paris). The inside rooms are
today quite “naked”, modern, the suspended small garden is gone … but the
stairs of the official entrance have been saved…

… as well
as a beautiful circular staircase for the staff (someone engraved a heart).

In 1763,
the then seven year old Mozart is said to have stayed here with his family
during his first visit to Paris, as guests of the then owner, the Bavarian
ambassador. What is clearly documented is that he gave concerts here, in the “gallery”,
behind these windows. With his dad Leopold and his sister Nannerl they may have performed one of the first
sonatas composed by the young Mozart, e.g. this one.

The building
was constructed on top of some medieval houses, one of which had belonged to
Heloise (famous for the Heloise and Abelard love story) and the cellar below,
which was used as a storage, has been emptied of gravel and dirt and restored
thanks to voluntary work by members of the above mentioned “Paris Historique”.

To end this
long story and again referring to the above mentioned Couperin family, I cannot
help giving you a chance to again listen to one of my favourite pieces, “Les
barricades mystérieuses” by François Couperin (see previous post), here as
performed in the movie “Tree of Life”.

Oh my, I walk past here regularly, but I had no idea what it looked like inside - or under! I love the figures that represent specific people, and the "leftovers" from the earlier buildings in the cellar. Very fascinating!

This is an area I thought I was familiar with, but obviously not familiar enough! So, thanks for enlightening me (and others!). Poor Catherine -- if someone had made that sculpture of me I probably would have had to go into therapy.

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My previous blog, PHO, was in operation for a year as from March 2007. It contains similar posts as this one, basically talking about different well known or more secrete sites in Paris. You can reach it by clicking HERE.